Doctor Octopus
Otto Octavius, also known by his alias Doctor Octopus, is the main antagonist of Marvel's Spider-Man. In the first half of the game he is seen as the tritagonist, working alongside Peter Parker in his lab. History Early history Born approximately in the year 1955, Otto Octavius met his future buisness partner Norman Osborn while in college. The two went to found the company Oscorp, and hoped to change the world together. According to Otto, the name "Oscorp" was a reference to the two "O's" in his and Norman's last names (O'sborn and '''O'ctavius). In 1986, a boy named Martin Li came to Oscorp to have a consultation for an unknown medical condition. Unknown to Otto, Norman had the boy injected with the experimental GR-27 ("Devil's Breath") serum. The treatment triggered a reaction that resulted in the death of Li's parents and Li receiving superhuman powers. This incident caused a lawsuit, and Otto left Oscorp in exchange for a settlement, ending his friendship with Norman in the process. Otto would go on to found his own company, Octavius Industries. However, he was unable to reach the same level of success that he had at Oscorp, and was forced to rely on grants for employment. ''Marvel's Spider-Man'' Otto serves as Peter's employer and mentor figure as a scientist. At the beginning of the game, he and Peter are working on highly advanced prostheses/prosthetics, in the hopes of providing replacement limbs that could interface with a human being's nervous system just like any natural limb does. While Peter is regularly late for work, Otto doesn't seem to resent him for it, instead being in silent awe of Peter's knack for what he terms "guerilla science". It is revealed that Octavius Industries relies exclusively on grants for income, and when, later in the game, their current grant(s) is revoked by Mayor Norman Osborn, Otto advises Peter to start looking for a new job. It is revealed that Otto was one of the founders of Oscorp, along with Norman, but left because he disagreed with Norman's unethical research in genetics, nonetheless agreeing to keep silent about it in exchange for a financial settlement. As the game progresses, Otto is revealed to have accepted support from the A.I.M. organization, which, according to Peter, has a shady reputation, in order to continue his work on prostheses. Even later in the game, Otto reveals that he is suffering from a neurological disorder; without a breakthrough in his research on prostheses and on how to directly have them interface with the brain, he will eventually lose nearly all motor functions. Eventually, thanks to both his and Peter's efforts in the research, Otto manages to build highly advanced mechanical, retractable arms that work in conjunction with a neural interface directly implanted at the base of the skull, that interfaces with a ganglia in his brain. Peter figures that the interface presents risks of altering the user's mood and personality drastically if left unchecked, and manages to convince Otto to keep working on the prototype. However, as Peter departs, Otto stumbles upon a TV news report mentioning Osborn's responsibility in the Devil's Breath debacle. Otto finally snaps, and reactivates the faulty neural interface, along with the arms, and shifts from the gentle Otto Octavius to the vengeful Doctor Octopus. As Doctor Octopus, one of his first actions is to research the backgrounds of all the major villains locked inside The Raft so that he can offer them deals in order to work for him. After breaking them out, he forms the Sinister Six and puts his plan into motion: attack all of Osborn's holdings within the city, unleash the Devil's Breath on the populace, and make Osborn admit to his secrets. Spider-Man foils most of this, though is powerless to stop the release of the Devil's Breath. Doctor Octopus fights him after Osborn is saved, and it is during this final confrontation that Peter realizes the Otto he knew does not exist any longer. Defeating him and acquiring the antiserum, he leaves him to be taken by the authorities. Otto is apprehended and thrown into prison. Characteristics Appearance Otto is a dark-haired, balding, bespectacled individual. He appears to possess green eyes. While not sporting a beard, he does seem to sport a five o'clock shadow, seemingly due to all the time he spends working in the lab. While heavier than most people his size, Otto hardly appears fat – he is at best chubby, which would be expected of an older man not engaging in regular exercise. As Doctor Octopus, Otto wears a dark green body suit lined with a black polymer. From the center of his lower back are four long mechanical arms, comprised of a black polymer. At the end of each claw are two sets of four sharp claws, the larger of which are tipped yellow. Personality At the beginning of the game, Otto is described as an optimistic, forgiving person. While his work doesn't progress as well as he had hoped, he stays his course and seems to take everything in stride. Otto displays a gentle personnality overall, not scolding Peter for his tardiness anymore than he feels he has to. Otto possesses an extremely high intellect, enough so that Peter admires him for it, yet does not display any of the arrogance his comic-book counterpart is famous for, instead admiring Peter's knack for impromptu science and describing the boy as a genius in his own right. However, as the game progresses, Otto starts acting frantically. He doesn't seem to have much patience when he feels close to reaching his goals, and as the mini-games reveal, Otto's designs have some overlooked flaws that Peter regularly has to address and correct. As Doctor Octopus, Otto's personality shifts towards a vengeful, calculating individual with sociopathic tendencies. He displays little care towards the lives he endangers, justifying it as necessary. Ock acts on years of frustration and repressed anger towards Norman Osborn. Part of this shift is due to his implementation of the imperfect neural network, triggering limbic degradation that caused him to act out on his suppressed hatred. Abilities *'''Genius-level intellect: Otto possesses an extremely high intellect, showing a great array of knowledge in engineering, chemistry, physics, and programming. However, he is often haphazard with his creations, overlooking critical flaws. *'Master strategist': As Doctor Octopus, Otto shows a keen mind for strategy. *'Skilled engineer': Otto is a talented engineer, having an obvious talent for robotics and biomechanics. Weaknesses *'Degenerative neurological disorder': Otto suffers from an undisclosed neurological disorder, which he suspects is the result of overexposure to toxic chemicals during his youth. The disorder solely affects his muscles: Peter estimates he will lose control of his motor functions within a year. *'Limbic degradation': To utilize his mechanical prosthesis, Otto implants an intracranial neural network at the back of his neck to connect the prosthesis directly to his nervous system. While functionally operational, imperfections in the implant's design causes limbic deterioration, damaging Otto's sanity. Equipment *'Mechanical appendages': With the help of Peter Parker, Otto creates four mechanical arms, which he attaches to his lower back via a harness. At the end of each arm are two sets of claws: a larger set of four claws used for general purposes, and a smaller set used for more precision-intensive actions. These arms, which are connected to his nervous system via an intracranial neural network, are capable of neural transmission speeds faster than 1 nanosecond, faster than signals can travel inside the brain. As a result, these arms function as if they were part of Otto himself. These arms possess superhuman strength, rapid movement, omnidirectional motion, and allow Otto to scale almost any building. Relationships Peter Parker Otto hired Peter as an intern, both out of recognition of the boy's talent and due to the recommendation of Peter's Aunt May. During the two years Peter worked for Octavius Industries, Otto came to see Peter as a son and close friend. He admires his innate ability and altruism, but is often irritated with his chronic lateness. Deducing Peter's identity as Spider-Man when he stumbles upon Peter repairing his suit, Otto pretends to misinterpret it as Peter being Spider-Man's assistant, promising to keep it a secret and even helping him by providing additional designs. When Norman Osborn moves to shut down Octavius Industries, Peter remains with Otto, helping him perfect the neural network. During this time, Otto confides with Peter his history with Norman, and his impeding loss of motor control. Otto keeps his impending plans against Norman a secret, including the weaponization of their artificial limb technology. Drunk on success upon the completion of the neural network, Otto is initially dismissive, then resentful of Peter's concerns of the network's obvious flaws. However, as the limbic degradation had not yet taken hold, Otto pretends to listen to Peter's warning and agree to fix the bugs. While his emotional reasoning continues to deteriorate, Otto still values his friendship with Peter, and orders the Sinister Six not to kill Spider-Man during the breakout. In a recording found in his lab, Otto leaves a message for Peter, admitting his pain in potentially losing Peter's friendship but affirming that he believes his actions are just. Norman Osborn Otto and Norman were close friends in college, and went on to found Oscorp together. However, Norman became increasingly obsessed with genetics, and resorted to unethical business practices. It is implied that Otto left Oscorp due to the incident with Martin Li, which Norman was directly responsible for. Otto came to view Norman with contempt, as Norman not only continued to steal credit for Otto's work and talent, but squirm his way out of any consequences for his behavior. Due to his financial difficulties, Otto was forced to take a grant from the Mayor's Office to fund his research. During the events of the game, Norman uses a malfunction as an excuse to revoke the grant, and has Octavius Industries shut down for safety violations. Otto recognizes it as Norman's thinly veiled attempt to force Otto to return to Oscorp. This incident reignites Otto's hatred for Norman, leading him to see his former partner as a cancer on the world, and triggering his transformation into Doctor Octopus. Martin Li Otto met Li when the latter was a child. Based on the recording retrieved from Norman Osborn's secret room, Otto was unaware of Li's injection with GR-27 until it was too late. When Li became "Mister Negative", Otto was shocked and saddened at the turn he had taken. However, as his hatred for Osborn increases during the course of the game, Otto sees Li's actions as inspiration. Original appearance Doctor Octopus was one of the original members of the Sinister Six. The character's first appearance came in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #3 (July, 1963). Behind the scenes William Salyers provides the voice for Doctor Octopus in the game. Category:Characters in Marvel's Spider-Man Category:Bosses in Marvel's Spider-Man